Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee ruled on Friday that either District Attorney Fani Willis or Special Prosecutor Nathan Wade, her former romantic partner, must step down from the election interference case against former President Donald Trump to avoid the “appearance of impropriety.”
While McAfee did not find sufficient evidence of a conflict of interest to remove Willis entirely, he also chastised the district attorney for her racially charged rhetoric and “playing the race card” against her critics.
The judge’s ruling came in response to a motion filed by former Trump staffer Mike Roman, who was charged alongside the former president and more than a dozen associates in a sweeping racketeering case for their challenge to the 2020 election in Georgia.
In early January, Roman petitioned the court to dismiss the 41-count indictment, accusing Willis of maintaining a romantic relationship with Wade, who since 2022 has been paid $653,000 to prosecute the case. In subsequent hearings on the allegations, witnesses affirmed that the relationship began before Wade was named lead prosecutor, while Willis maintained that it only began after. Roman’s motion also accused the two of colluding with the Biden administration to plan out the case against the president’s presumptive challenger.
Learn the benefits of becoming a Valuetainment Member and subscribe today!
In his ruling on the case, Judge McAfee determined that “the established record now highlights a significant appearance of impropriety that infects the current structure of the prosecution team — an appearance that must be removed.” The ruling continued:
As the case moves forward, reasonable members of the public could easily be left to wonder whether the financial exchanges have continued resulting in some form of benefit to the District Attorney, or even whether the romantic relationship has resumed. As long as Wade remains on the case, this unnecessary perception will persist.
To address the public concerns, McAfee determined that “the District Attorney may choose to step aside, along with the whole of her office” or “Wade can withdraw” from the case. However, the judge noted that Roman’s defense team had “failed to meet their burden” of proving a conflict of interest, quashing the motion to remove Willis entirely.
Related: Trump Arrested After His Arrival in Fulton County Georgia
McAfee also took special issue with a speech Willis made at the Big Bethel AME Church in Atlanta, during which she claimed that she and Wade were being targeted because of their race.
“They only attacked one,” Willis told congregants during a speech that lasted some 30 minutes. “First thing they say, ‘Oh, she’s gonna play the race card now.’ But no God, isn’t it them that’s playing the race card when they only question one? Isn’t it them playing the race card when they constantly think I need someone from some other jurisdiction in some other state to tell me how to do a job I’ve been doing almost 30 years?”
She also suggested that “you cannot expect Black women to be perfect and save the world. The Lord is completing us. We are not perfect. We need your prayers. We need to be allowed to stumble. We need grace.”
In his ruling, McAfee found that her use of such racially charged language was “legally improper” and came dangerously close to compromising the case. Her vague references to “they” and “so many others” left it far too ambiguous who she was referring to, and the judge determined that “the effect of this speech was to cast racial aspersions at an indicted Defendant’s decision to file this pretrial motion.”
The judge’s decision came just days after McAfee dropped three of the 41 charges against former President Trump and his associates, determining that they were not specific enough about the legal violations of which the defendants were accused.
Judge McAfee’s full ruling can be read below.
Motion-to-Disqualify-Fani-WillisDownload
Connor Walcott is a staff writer for Valuetainment.com. Follow Connor on X and look for him on VT’s “The Unusual Suspects.”
Add comment